Trump and Harris host dueling rallies in the Milwaukee area in a final push to win Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump hosted rallies within 7 miles of each other Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a fevered final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin's largest county.

Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020. One reason for his defeat was a drop in support in those Milwaukee suburbs and an increase in Democratic votes in the city.

“Both candidates recognize that the road to the White House runs directly through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario Deleon, chair of the county's Republican Party.

Air Force Two, the vice presidential aircraft, touched down at Milwaukee's airport about 40 minutes ahead of Trump's private plane, which he has dubbed Trump Force One. The planes, both variations of a Boeing 757, parked near each other, but the candidates did not cross paths; Harris' motorcade was gone before Trump landed.

Both venues drew roughly the same number of people, based on crowd estimates provided by each campaign. Trump took the stage seven minutes before Harris.

The two rallies — Trump was in downtown Milwaukee and Harris in a suburb — may be the candidates' last appearances in Wisconsin before Election Day. Both sides say the race is once again razor tight for the state's 10 electoral votes. Four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a point, or fewer than 23,000 votes.

It was absentee votes from Milwaukee, which typically are reported early in the morning after Election Day, that tipped Wisconsin for President Joe Biden in 2020.

Democrats know they must turn out voters in Milwaukee, also home to the state's largest Black population, to counter Trump's support in the suburbs and rural areas. Harris is hoping to replicate, and exceed, turnout from 2020 in the city, which voted 79% for Biden that year.

Trump is trying to cut into the Democrats' margin. Deleon called it a “lose by less” mentality.

Before heading to Milwaukee, Harris campaigned in the southern Wisconsin city of Janesville, where she talked up her support for organized labor in a speech at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local.

“Nobody understands better than a union member that as Americans we all rise or fall together,” Harris said. She promised to eliminate “unnecessary” degree requirements for federal jobs and push private sector employers to do the same.

She called Trump “an existential threat to America’s labor movement" and said the nation lost manufacturing jobs during his presidency.

Trump, whose base includes working-class voters, has made sporadic efforts to reach out to rank-and-file union members, who have traditionally been core to the Democratic coalition.

Harris later went after Trump on health care, telling hundreds who packed into a high school in Little Chute, Wisconsin, that the former president wants to undo the Affordable Care Act law and take the United States back to the days when insurers could deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions.

Her Milwaukee rally came after a series of performances, the latest in a series of evening concerts the Harris campaign is staging to fire up supporters in battleground states. She said Trump is “increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, he is consumed with grievance and the man is out for unchecked power.”

Across town, Trump railed against the economy under Biden. The U.S. jobs report released Friday, showing that employers added just 12,000 jobs in October, suggests that the Biden-Harris administration is failing on the economy, he said.

“This is like a depression,” Trump said of the numbers as he heaped insults on Harris.

Economists estimate that Hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with strikes at Boeing and elsewhere, pushed down net job growth by tens of thousands of jobs in October.

Trump supporters waiting in line for his Milwaukee rally said they were feeling optimistic about his chances of winning next week.

“I feel the Democrats can only win if they cheat,” said Matt Kumorkiewicz, 55, a retired carpenter from nearby Oak Creek, echoing a common refrain from the former president.

He and several others in line were wearing yellow reflective safety vests in response to Biden’s comment seemingly calling Trump supporters “garbage.”

“We’re not garbage,” he said.

Peter Schmidt, 66, said he bought a vest from a street vendor for $15. Others in the crowd were wearing garbage bags.

Trump spent the afternoon in the Detroit area, where he stopped at a restaurant in Dearborn, the nation's largest Arab-majority city, to meet with supporters. Many in the community remain distrustful after his first act in office in 2017 was to sign an executive order effectively banning travelers from predominantly Muslim countries.

In Milwaukee, a lot of Democrats are "anxious and cautiously optimistic," said Angela Lang, founder and executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee.

“Especially given 2016 when there wasn't the same amount of energy, I think it’s clear Dems learned lessons about the importance of Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole,” she said.

In another late outreach effort targeting Black voters, former President Bill Clinton campaigned with local faith leaders on Thursday night at a center for celebrating African American music and arts in Milwaukee.

Hillary Clinton did not campaign in Wisconsin in 2016 after her primary loss, a mistake that Harris is not repeating. The Friday stop is her ninth in the state as a presidential candidate and her fifth to Milwaukee or its suburbs. It is Trump's 10th stop in Wisconsin, not counting the Republican National Convention, which was held in Milwaukee, and his third visit to the Milwaukee area.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Brian Schimming said that Harris having to return to the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee shows she is on defense while Trump is on offense.

The Milwaukee Election Commission estimated on Thursday that it expects to receive more than 100,000 ballots by Election Day. But that lags early vote returns from the conservative suburbs.

“The question no one knows the answer to is who those voters are voting for,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler. “My feeling is that there may be some pleasant surprises for Harris.”

Lang, the Milwaukee organizer, said it is a tradition for many voters her group contacts to cast their ballots on Election Day. And if they don't?

“Then we’re in a world of trouble,” said Mandela Barnes, a former lieutenant governor and president of Power to the Polls, a group that’s been working to boost turnout.

Trump’s rally was staged in the same arena where the Republican convention took place three months ago. The Harris rally, held at the state fair park in West Allis, included rapper Cardi B as a speaker and performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte and DJ Gemini Gilly.

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo in West Allis, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at Little Chute High School, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Little Chute, Wis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at Little Chute High School, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Little Chute, Wis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Janesville, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Janesville, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign event Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a campaign rally at Resch Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, speaking at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaking at a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.

The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors.

It’s the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid.

Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. Friday. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force Taylor but chose to continue deliberating. The six man, six woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.

Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict with friends outside the federal courthouse, saying: “It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice.”

Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment.

The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide.

A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, while in 2022, a jury acquitted Hankison on state charges of wanton endangerment.

The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them when they broke down Taylor’s door with a battering ram.

This jury had sent a note on Thursday to U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings asking whether they needed to know if Taylor was alive as Hankison fired his shots.

That was a point of contention during closing arguments, when Hankison’s attorney Don Malarcik told the jury that prosecutors must “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive” when Hankison fired.

After the jury sent the question, Jennings urged them to keep deliberating.

Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit and fired into Taylor’s glass door and a window.

Meanwhile, officers at the door returned Walker’s fire, hitting and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.

Hankison’s lawyers argued during closing statements Wednesday that Hankison was acting properly “in a very tense, very chaotic environment” that lasted about 12 seconds. They emphasized that Hankison’s shots didn’t hit anyone.

Hankison was one of four officers charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylor’s civil rights. Thus far, those charges have yielded just one conviction: a plea deal from a former officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness in another case.

Malarcik, Hankison’s attorney, spoke at length during closing arguments about the role of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired the shot that hit former Sgt. John Mattingly at the door. He said Walker never tried to come to the door or turn the lights on as police were knocking and instead armed himself and hid in the dark.

“Brett Hankison was 12 inches away from being shot by Kenneth Walker,” Malarcik said.

Prosecutors said Hankison acted recklessly, firing 10 shots into doors and a window where he couldn’t see a target.

They said in closing arguments that Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force: If they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger.”

Neither of the officers who shot Taylor — Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged in Taylor’s death. Federal and state prosecutors have said those officers were justified in returning fire, since Taylor’s boyfriend shot at them first.

Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, center left, hugs a friend in Louisville, Ky., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, after a former Kentucky police officer was convicted in federal court for using excessive force when he fired his gun during the deadly raid that left Taylor dead in 2020. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan)

FILE - Former Louisville Police officer Brett Hankison describes what he saw in the apartment of Brionna Taylor during testimony Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the Louisville Metro police department shows officer Brett Hankison. (Louisville Police Department via AP, File)